| Eckin | |
| Leader | Unknown |
| System | Zailt |
| Homeworld | Zailt I-IV |
| Capital | Unknown |
| Allies | Scatterhome |
| Enemies | None |
| |
Morphology and Physiology
They are tall, spindly quadrupeds that have rudimentary opposable thumbs (one finger and one thumb per hand) and live beneath the surface of their planets. Slick-skinned, grey, and eyeless, they "see" using echolocation and have wide mouths full of fibrous teeth, which they use to filter nutrients from the steam clouds that fill their caverns (kind of like whales filter krill from the water).
History
Located in Feral Space at the edge of the Blasted Region is the Zailt system, a few icy planets in orbit around a cold star. The planets (Zailt I - IV), while covered in thick crusts of ice, are home to elaborate systems of mineral rich, steam-filled tunnels, the warmth and moisture hospitable to carbon-based life forms. The similarity in geology and orbit shared by the quartet of planets has led researchers to speculate that they were once one massive planet that divided in the chaos of the Worldbreaking, and the population of the Eckin seems distributed evenly across all four planets. Little is known about the history of the race, due to the race's byzantine, nearly impossible-to-decipher record-keeping and a lack of interest and funding by alien research groups.
Culture
The Eckin are a sentient race, if xenophobic and cautious, and boast a few spaceports which they use almost exclusively for hopping from planet to planet within the Zailt system, but they have no military force to speak of and no ground breaking technology that isn't centered around increasing steam production. The Eckin are quite wary of outsiders, and would prefer to be left alone. However, a certain fungus that grows on the steam vents in their tunnels is an essential component in several designer drugs, making them reluctant but semi-visible players on the galactic field.
It is rare to see an Eckin outside the Zailt system, but not impossible, as several of them were unfortunately put into zoos despite their sentience. There is a "Free the Eckin" charity fund managed by a few people on Scatterhome.